Ana Teresa Zappi Narration of Zappi Family Photos

When she made her 1991 visit to Louisiana, Ana Zappi brought along photographs that she believed would interest the family of her brother, Mark. During her stay, Ana graciously allowed herself to be videotaped while describing some of these photographs. She also permitted 35 mm copies to be made of the photos. This videotape and the copies of the photographs have been reproduced in digital form.

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Note: Initial seconds of the video are silent.

Images from the video

Grandpa Peré

Transcript of Ana Zappi's photo narration:

I'm going to start with Grandpa Peré, that is my mother's father. He was born in Bordeaux, France. The year or date I do not recall. He came into Panama to work as a land surveyor for the company engaged in construction of the Panama Canal under the French government on the second attempt, but they went bankrupt and he left Panama.

Grandma Lili

 After that he went to Puerto Rico in the Carribean and there he met Grandma Lili who was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Her maiden name--Grandma Lili was born in Ponce Puerto her father was--her maiden name was Cecilia, nicknamed Lili--Calvo Wirten. Her father was Spanish and the mother was Wirten, a German name.

David Peré Calvo and Margarita del Carmen Peré Calvo

Out of their marriage were born David Pere Calvo, and Margarita del Carmen Pere Calvo.

Uncle David

This is Uncle David when he was in his twenties, I figure.

Margarita Peré Calvo

And this is our mother, Margarita Pere Calvo, when she was--she must have been about seventeen years at this time. She liked to play the mandolina, which I understand she did quite well.

Margarita Peré Calvo

This is another picture of Mama. This must have been taken at about the same time, when she was seventeen.

Tia Pepita

This is Tia Pepita. She was Uncle David's and Mama's half sister. She was born out of Grandma Lili's second marriage to Monsieur Pirazzi, an Italian gentleman.

Grandpa Luigi Zappi

This is Grandpa Luigi Zappi. We called him Nono, which is the Italian name for grandfather. He was born in Castel Bolognese, in Italy. On the date of nineteen of November, in 1883.

"Nona" Teresa

This is Nona Teresa, that means Grandma Teresa. She was our father's mother, also born in Castel Bolognese. I do not have the certificate of her birth, nor when Nono and Nona were married; I don't have that certificate at hand.

Grandpa Luigi and Grandma Teresa had three children. The eldest one, Ziu Mentore was studying medicine, but he died just before receiving his degree. (no photo)

Tio Regulo

Then followed Tio Regulo. He decided he wanted to join the Navy instead of going to law school, as was the desire of Grandpa Luigi.

Tio Regulo

He made his career in the Navy, until the time of his death in La Spezia, which used to be a Naval station, during WWII. He served from WWI to WWII.

Aunt Veronica

This is Aunt Veronica. She was Uncle Regulo's wife.

Clementina

Out of their marriage, Clementina, which we used to call Mentina, was the only child.

Zefiro Zappi

Besides Ziu Mentore, and Ziu Regulo, was born Zia Aurora. I do not have a picture of her at hand. And then was born Zefiro, our father, and he was the youngest in the family.

Zefiro Zappi

This is a picture of father in uniform of the Italian army, where he served as an officer during WWI.

Zefiro and Margarita's wedding photograph

This is father and mother's wedding picture. They were married in Panama at La Merced church on the fourth of January, 1913.

The Twins, Romulo and Remo

The first children in our family born was a pair of twins, which were called Romolo Juan, and Remo Luis. Bearing the first names of our grandparents, Luigi and John.

Ana, the Twins, and Mama

This picture was taken when mother, myself and the twins were going to leave Panama for Italy, to join father who was serving in the Italian army during WWI. I was born on the 21 of July, 1917, and the twins had been born about three years before.

Ana and the Twins in Poncé, Puerto Rico

This is a snapshot taken in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in which we appear. It is a snapshot taken of the twins and myself. If I recall well, I must have been about five years old. The boys at that time, for their nice dress, would wear sailor suits. They had the white and the navy blue.

Ana and her siblings in uniform

This was father's idea. The twins had joined the boy scouts. This was in Ponce, Puerto Rico. And he figured out it would make a nice picture to have them with their uniform to represent the army, Italo and Marco wearing their navy suits, and myself representing the red cross. Also in the picture appears our very nice and loving dog. His name was Dinki, and he was a collie. The twins were so identical, it was hard to tell one from the other. But if I recall well, the one standing on the left is Remo, and the one standing on the right is Romolo. Of the two sitting, the one sitting on the left is Marcos, and the one sitting on the right is Italo.

Marcos and Italo's First Communion

This is the photograph of Marcos and Italo on their first communion, which, if I recall well, they took at the Cathedral in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

"Queen" Ana and her escort

The following two pictures represent me when I was elected Queen of the schools in Ponce, Puerto Rico. I must have been about almost eight years, and my escort, Juanito Monserrate, was in the same school I was attending at the time.

"Queen" Ana

The dress, as you may observe, was quite elaborate. But I know mother went all the way around to make sure it was an impressive dress. She took a trip to San Juan to look for designs.

Passport photograph

This is the photograph that Mother had taken to appear on the passport when we were travelling from Puerto Rico to Panama. That was on or about September of 1930. In the middle we have Mama, and on the left we can see Remo, on the right, Romolo, and then the four in front are Tito, or Italo on the left, myself [Ana Teresa], Umberto, which we used to call Tito, and Yeyo on the right, which is Marcos.

 

Ana's other photographs

 

  

"Yeyo"

 

Margarita Peré Calvo

 

Zefiro Zappi

 

Romulo and Remo Zappi

 

Luigi Zappi

 

Remo Zappi

 

Italo Zappi

 

[Abuela's stepmother? ]

Note: We are searching for names to identify these individuals from this point and below. My best guesses appear in brackets. Any corrections would be greatly appreciated.

In the image at left, may this possibly be the second wife of Tia Pepita's father? We are not sure who "Abuela's stepmother" is, as referred to in this image:

[Remo?]

  

 

  

Italo

At age 16, attending the "Scuola Furieri" during his High School years in Italy.

[Zefiro's Diploma?]

 To download a full size copy, click here.